TransCanada to build pipeline and terminal in central Alberta

By Claudia Assis

TransCanada

TransCanada Corp.
/quotes/zigman/27155/quotes/nls/trpTRP said Thursday it would spend about $900 million to build a small pipeline and terminal facilities to connect Edmonton to Hardisty in Alberta, Canada.

The Heartland pipeline would be in service during the second half of 2015, TransCanada said. It would have capacity to transport up to 900,000 barrels of oil a day, while the terminal could store up to 1.9 million barrels of oil.

TransCanada’s Keystone XL pipeline, the proposed pipeline from Hardisty to the U.S. Gulf Coast, has faced stiff opposition from environmentalists and awaits U.S. government approval.

TransCanada recently said it expects Keystone XL to be operating in the second half of 2015, pushed back from previous expectations of early 2015.

For the Heartland Pipeline, TransCanada said it will file a regulatory application this spring.

TransCanada is not alone in trying to ship Canadian oil to the U.S. Gulf Coast, and an expansion planned for an Enbridge Inc. line could turn into another front for controversy, according to this Bloomberg report.

Enbridge wants to almost double the volume of oil carried by an existing pipeline from Alberta’s Hardisty to Superior, Wisconsin to 800,000 barrels a day — more than Keystone’s proposed capacity. The State Department is taking comments on the line, called the Alberta Clipper, until May 13.

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